<table> </table> Eschewing the on-field celebration of Missouri&#8217;s 42-28 trouncing of Iowa State last October, Tigers safety William Moore ran as fast as he could to the Faurot Field locker room.</p><p>He was not alone. Already there was a mass gathering of players around fallen teammate Pig Brown, who wasn&#8217;t trying to fool anyone into thinking he could recover from a torn Achilles&#8217; tendon before the end of the season.</p><p>&#8220;I could see the tears in his eyes,&#8221; Moore recalled Monday during Big 12 media days at the Kansas City Downtown Marriott. &#8220;But I hung back. He had so many people around him, I just hung back.&#8221;</p><p>Not until later, when both players were alone, did Brown exact a promise from Moore that he would play for both of them the rest of the season.</p><p>&#8220;When we got home,&#8221; Moore said, &#8220;he sat me down and said, &#8216;It&#8217;s on you. Don&#8217;t talk about it. Just show it.&#8217; &#8221;</p><p>Moore could not say no. Not to Pig, the fellow safety who had shown Moore so much, including the determination it took to turn brimming potential into success.</p><p>Moore had already fashioned a gaudy start to Missouri&#8217;s first eight games. He&#8217;d averaged more than seven tackles a game, had five tackles for 24 yards in losses and picked off three passes.</p><p>That, however, was second on the team to Brown, who averaged nearly nine tackles per game, made eight tackles for 18 yards in losses, and also picked off three passes.</p><p>&#8220;He learned the program so fast,&#8221; Moore marveled. A junior-college transfer, Brown was voted a team captain his senior year.</p><p>&#8220;He took off and I ended up following him,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;I kept hearing people say we were the best tandem of safeties in the Big 12. And I liked that.&#8221;</p><p>Now Brown was relegated to being a cheerleader, a role in which he excelled &#8212; with Moore an object of his adulation.</p><p>In Moore&#8217;s final six games, the one-time tuba player in the Hayti (Mo.) High School marching band averaged more than nine tackles a game, added four tackles for 18 yards in losses and intercepted five passes.</p><p>The last pick, along with 13 tackles, came in Missouri&#8217;s 38-7 Cotton Bowl victory over Arkansas.</p><p>&#8220;Pig was one of the best safeties in college football the first five or six weeks of the season,&#8221; MU quarterback Chase Daniel said. &#8220;Willie Mo sort of took a back seat to that even though he was playing well.</p><p>&#8220;But the last (six) games, Willie Mo took over. It seemed like he had a pick or a big hit every single game.&#8221;</p><p>Few knew, but Moore played the final 8 1/2 games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury that required surgery at season&#8217;s end.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t sit there and worry about it,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;Coach E (defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus) has a saying, &#8216;Don&#8217;t show me the pain, show me the baby.&#8217; &#8221;</p><p>That&#8217;s what Moore did, finishing the season with 117 tackles and an MU season-record eight interceptions.</p><p>That interception total tied for the NCAA lead, and earned Moore second team All-America honors from The Associated Press. Some expected him to pass up his final college season and jump to the NFL.</p><p>&#8220;It would have been really easy,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;But I didn&#8217;t want to be one of those guys who are a one-year wonder.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great to be recognized for what I did. This year I&#8217;m going to do a lot more.&#8221;</p><p>Moore smiles broadly at the suggestion that Missouri&#8217;s defense this season could be as loaded as the Tigers&#8217; offense.